A weekend in Dubai

The largest hotelsand real kindness

A peek at the future development of Dubai's tourism facilities, including a visit to one of the artificial islands which are under construction off the coast of this Emirate. Besides impressive contemporary architecture, Dubai has an interesting history, which is brought alive in the museum in the 18th century Al Fahidi fort. A trip to the desert and the village of Hatta in the mountains should be part of every visit.

Text and photos: Aurélie Montfrond

Although Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate economically, Dubai
is home to one third of the population of the United Arab
Emirates. It has a common border with Oman and Saudi Arabia. It
has been governed by the Maktoum family since 1833. The city in
the desert is under construction.

Dubailand

Theme parks galore

The artificial Palm Islands are growing into cities themselves
just as the Dubailand project, a city within the city being
developed outside Dubai and due to being completed by 2018.

In ten years time, Dubai will become a global tourism
destination. Dubailand will comprise of several theme parks,
residential lots - including an exclusive residential area being
built on its own private golf course -, hotels, entertainment,
sport complex and the largest shopping mall in the world 'Mall of
Arabia'.

This seems almost unrealistic but I had the chance to visit
the offices of Dubailand and had a look at the maquettes and
projects. It sounded insane and I liked it. The imagination it
takes to come up with such ideas and to realize them was
something I really appreciated.

Some of the theme parks are due to open in 2011. There will be
a Dreamworks theme park for the first time ever. As the senior
executive guides me through the office, he tells me discretely
that they might build a hotel in the shape of Shrek.

There also will be a local Arabian theme park where the
entrance will represent a distorted view of Dubai buildings. And
a Legoland, a Universal Studios Park and an area like Steven
Spielberg's Jurassic Park with dinosaurs hanging out while you
can learn more about them.

When completed, Dubailand will have a
population of about 2.5 million which is almost twice the actual
population of Dubai.

Dubai is better if you have a car or a chauffeur to drive you
around. You can easily travel from and to the different parts of
the city by taxi. I arrived at Dubai airport on a Friday, early
in the morning. All I knew was that I was supposed to be picked
up by a chauffeur.

There he was, in his beige luxurious car with black stained
windows. The chauffeur asked for my bags and he smiled. I had a
small backpack and I was carrying my small laptop under my arm. I
had my cameras, wires, a few t-shirts and a toilet bag. Its only
for a few days, you don't need to carry more. It was 8 am and
already 30 degrees.

He brought me to my hotel and explained he would drive me
around Dubai during my stay. I thought that was nice. I was eager
to see Dubai. I asked him to come back in two hours.

The new five stars hotel 'The Address' is situated in downtown
Burj Dubai between the new Dubai mall and Burj Dubai itself. It
opened only last October.

I had a room on one of the floors
reserved for executives. They told me I had access to an
executive lounge that was only a few meters away from my room and
where I could have my breakfast and free beverages 24 hours a
day. That was good, as it was probably quieter there than in the
main restaurant.

I had breakfast and went into my room which was immense and
equipped with an iPod dock and speakers. That was the first time
I saw that. I put my small iPod in it and turned the music up
loud! To be honest, I don't think the speakers were more than 3
Watt but that was enough.

I took a shower, grabbed my camcorder and camera, got down to
the reception and went outside, where my driver was waiting for
me. We embarked on a tour of Dubai.

Palm Jumeirah

The smallest of the artificial islands

We drove around east and west Jumeirah and then to the only
new island that can be accessed by car yet: Palm Jumeirah with
the new Atlantis hotel, one of the world's biggest hotels ever
built. It was built in Indian style. It has a giant arch in the
shape of one of the Taj Mahal domes.

Palm Jumeirah is the smallest of the three artificial islands.
There are three in total. The middle one, still under
construction, represents the world map, seen from the sky. The
largest one is Palm Deira with a lenght of 27 km. It has hotels
and residential lots.

Along the coast of Dubai are the Jumeirah beaches. Most of
them are free to access but others have a small entrance fee.
They are situated halfway between Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah
mosque.

These are not to be missed. Burj Al Arab has a futuristic
shape and looks like a boat. It is a well-known hotel and 240 m
high. The sky-view bar at the top of the hotel gives you a
fantastic view of The World Islands development. Burj means
'tower'. Burj Al Arab or Arabian Tower is a landmark of
Dubai.

The Jumeirah mosque is the largest in Dubai and the only one
open to non-Muslims. I did not visit it but only had a look at
the exterior. It has a really elegant architecture. The mosque
was built in 1975 in the medieval Fatimid style which is a copy
of a larger mosque in Cairo, Egypt.

The Mall of the Emirates

'Wanna buy cheap gold?'

The Mall of the Emirates is until now the largest mall in
Dubai and has 400 shops. We stopped there to eat: there was a
huge food court with all the fast food possible.

My driver was telling me that this Mall was a paradise for
people as it was cheap, especially if I wanted to buy gold. I
told him 'It might be cheap but you still have to pay for it and
I dont want to pay for anything.'

He burst out laughing and asked me if I was interested in
gold. I replied 'Not particularly, unless I want to resell it,
but I just want to write at the moment.' He laughed again and
insisted 'So you don't want to look around the gold souks' and I
replied 'I could do it but I am afraid I'll just end up being
bored. I prefer white gold anyway, as yellow gold looks cheap. At
the end of the day, it is just a material and it does not have
any meaning on its own.' He agreed in his strong Arabic
accent.

Ski Dubai is a ski complex inside the mall. It is like a big
freezer with people wearing ski outfits and skis. Just have a
look around out of curiosity.

We were on our way back to my hotel. My driver thought I was
courageous as I had just arrived in Dubai and we had been driving
around the city for four hours. He asked me if I was not tired
after all this touring. I replied 'I'll have time to be tired
when I get back to Ireland.' He laughed and asked 'Island of
what?'

Other people I encountered when I was relaxing in the
executive lounge later on, didn't understand where I was from,
either. Even though they were well-traveled people. I did not
blame them. They thought it was the UK. I told them that it was
an island located at the western end of Europe, the last country
before the United States and after the UK. We could not stop
laughing.

Two executives from Saudi Arabia, wearing the traditional
white dress and scarf, were sitting at my table drinking mango
juice, as was I. I asked them a lot of questions, they seemed to
know just everything; or maybe I just don't know enough. I
thought they were really cool and it contrasted so well with the
westerners. I liked it.

There is no such thing as a western culture anymore, yet we
critizice and have the pretention to make moral judgements on
other cultures. We only want to see the world the way we decide
to shape it for ourselves.

I was reminded of two people from a British news channel who
were discussing how their news headline 'Sex on the beach in
Dubai' would come accross and if anyone there would be willing to
talk about it. It looked like they were suggesting that people in
the Middle East were not normal and that this kind of behaviour
was acceptable in Europe.

But its not, it is simply indecent and isn't tolerated
anywhere in the world. What were these people thinking? They
certainly weren't locals, but people from the UK on vacation.

Old Dubai

Only thirty years ago, Dubai was a village in the desert

The next day I woke up early and enjoyed an hour or so on my
own hanging around outside my hotel with my MP3 player. I do that
everywhere I go. I don't know if it sounds weird, but my music is
part of me and I had to listen to it for a while or I would go
mad.

My driver picked me up in the early afternoon and we headed
towards the old parts of Dubai, Deira and Bur Dubai. Dubai Museum
is situated in Bur Dubai and housed in the 18th century Al Fahidi
fort. It has several galleries that show the life around Dubai
over the 5000 years of history of the settlement from its trading
origins to the oil boom and finally the current construction
fever.

One of the galleries showed a movie and photographs of Dubai
in 1950. It was fascinating to see how from a village in the
desert it developed into the Dubai of today, only 30 years later.
The courtyard displays traditional housing and life in the
desert. The last gallery on archeology shows pre-historic objects
found around Dubai such as bronze daggers among others.

Bastakiya is a series of restored buildings lying around the
creek near Dubai museum, dating back from around 1900. They house
museums, art galleries, shops and restaurants. This is a good
spot for strolling. It is also along the shore and the creek.

We walked along the creek where you can cross in narrow boats
called 'Abra' for 1 dirham. There is a magnificient view of old
Dubai along the new modern high-rise glass towers and the
colourful old boats docked along the creek. Later in the
afternoon I went back to my hotel.

I spent the evening in the lounge using the Wi-Fi while having
a capuccino in my right hand and a mango juice in my left. As
there were only a few people the waiters kept asking me if I
wanted anything. They were really nice, as the evening went by
one would talk to me in French.

Most of them were from Morroco,
Tunisia or Algeria. They thought I was Arabic because of for my
middle-eastern looks and because I don't drink alcohol. It's not
refreshing and I do not want to be out of control.

Into the desert

The village of Hatta is a favorite destination for the
locals

On the last day I went on a trip outside Dubai and saw the
desert in the direction of Hatta, a small village in the
mountains. If you are interested in going on an excursion outside
Dubai and have limited time, make it this one. This is also a
favourite destination for the locals as its air is fresher.

We
only passed by the village and unfortunately did not stop but the
scenic route is worth the detour. The village has a hotel. There
are rather few attractions in the centre, apart from two
watchtowers dating from 1880.

We crossed the border into Oman. I could see the extended
desert lying across both sides of the road. There was less and
less vegetation. Almost reddish sand and low dunes were taking
shape. A donkey was hanging out on his own along the road and I
saw a small herd of camels from a distance.

I felt the heat coming from the desert as we were driving at
180 km. It usually takes 1 hour to drive to Hatta but my driver
told me he would make it in 30 minutes. I told him I liked speed.
I felt like on a racing track.

We eventually stopped at a spot where you could see and ride
camels. There were also falcons which are used for the
traditional sport of the Arab elite, falconry. It has a dedicated
following in Dubai and birds can cost up to 150,000 Dh each.

There was a baby monkey tied to a pole, eating some kind of
nuts out of a plastic bag. It was fascinating to see him gesture
and move around. I asked my driver, who works for the government
of Dubai, jokingly if it was ok if I took the monkey and the
falcon with me. They were so cute, even the falcon. I must be
mad, as at the end of the day it's just a bird, but he looked so
elegant and sophisticated.

There also were a couple of ostriches and camels. One of them
approached me and posed for photographs. It was funny, as there
were a lot of other people taking pictures but the camels would
not even go near them.

As I got closer to the camels, one of them walked slowly
towards me and just stayed near me while all the other people
with cameras suddenly rushed around me and started to take
pictures of the camel.

We went back to Dubai and drove through Dubai marina with its
avenue full of palm trees, along high-rise buildings housing
luxurious hotels and restaurants on one side and on the other
side the sandy beach. It was sunset and I had never seen such
colours. They were melting together slowly in the sky. That is
because of the desert climate. It looked perfect.

Dubai was be the most exotic I place I ever visited and people
around the hotel, the airport and everywhere were so kind, I
could not believe it. Generally I expect people not to care and
if I am lost or I need information, I know that I won't get a
proper response so I have the habit not to wait for any
explanation and to just walk away.

I acted the same in Dubai aiport and as I was going to walk
away, I heard the person explaining to me in an intelligent and
genuine way what I had do to get from point A to point B. That
was how it was all the time, they were not just pretending but
people were really kind. I could sense the sincerity and it was
something I had missed for quite a long time. Dubai is worth a
visit and several visits throughout the years to come as it keeps
growing and turning into a new city all over again.

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